Hoisin Chicken with Cucumber Salad

To start the New Year out right David and I decided we would use his new cookbook and cook some low calorie health meals. We decided to start the year with Hoisin Chicken and Cucumber Salad from the Food Network Great Easy Meals Cookbook.

Ingredients

For the Chicken:

3/4 cup hoisin sauce

3 scallions, coarsely chopped

5 cloves garlic

1 2-in piece fresh ginger, sliced

1 jalapeno pepper, stemmed and halved (remove seeds for less heat)

Zest and juice of two limes, plus lime wedges for serving

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

2 pounds skin-on chicken thighs and drumsticks

For the Salad:

1/2 cup rice vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

Kosher salt

1 seedless cucumber, thinly sliced

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

Directions

1. Prepare the chicken: Preheat grill to medium on one side. Combine the hoisin sauce, scallions, garlic, ginger, jalapeno, lime zest and juice, vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste in a mini food processor. Process until almost smooth. Season the chicken with salt; toss with the hoisin mixture in a large bowl. NOTE: We did not have gas for the grill instead we preheated the over to 425 degrees and cooked it for 25 minutes.

Zesting the lime

2 inch ginger root

Ingredients before the food processor

Sauce after being processed

Chicken glazed and being put in the oven

2. Make the salad: Bring the vinegar, sugar, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt to a boil in a small saucepan, stirring. Remove from heat; stir in 1/4 cup ice cubes until melted. Toss the cucumber and red onion in a serving bowl with the vinegar mixture; chill.

3. Grill the chicken over direct heat until the skin is crisp, 5 minutes per side, basting with extra marinade. Transfer to the cooler side of the grill; cover and grill until cooked through, 10-15 more minutes. Serve with the cucumber salad and lime wedges. NOTE: After the 25 minutes we at 425 degrees we reapplied the marinade and cooked for another 20 minutes.

The meal turned out well although I think it would be much better grilled. The sauce was good and since we liked lime we really enjoyed it. However, there is a strong lime flavor which may turn some off. We also left the seeds in the jalapenos so we had a nice hotness to balance the lime flavor.